Yes, the Sox are better than they’ve been in, well, a century. But it’s Boston’s newly inventive food scene and pampering hotels that have us there and back, even when they’re not winning the World Series.

Asta

Is it fair to describe a restaurant as colorful? Probably not, but few other words qualify here. The gleaming blond wood; the black slate serving platters; the coral red rice crackers; the glowing squid ink and the powdered green seaweed—this is just a portion of the palette with which chef Alex Crabb works. And since Crabb apprenticed at Noma, the Scandinavian temple of the current foraged-food movement, Asta’s color isn’t just in the visual—it’s fully edible in his transcendent, misleadingly abstract platings. Whatever you order, don’t skip the sweetbreads, an intricate homage to Noma that’ll save you a cool grand on plane tickets.